Sensible gun control doesn't focus on law-abiding citizens

Apr. 28, 2013

Jerry Arnold

In pooh-poohing Sheriff Justin Smith’s position on his oath of office, some of the Coloradoan’s recent contributors have advanced the specious argument that, whatever is instituted into law, regardless of whether it defies the country’s founding documents or not, it must be indiscriminately enforced and obeyed.

One must wonder what these folks’ attitude would have been had they lived in 1930s Germany when Hitler, via insidious gradualism, instituted laws that ignored the Weimar Republic’s constitution. I am of the ilk that believes that words mean something. For those who choose to accept plain English, the Second Amendment is quite unequivocal in its meaning. This is particularly clear in the context of what our forefathers believed, namely that governments unfettered will virtually always tend to deteriorate into tyranny.

These people are misguided, misinformed or both and probably believe that the best government is one that has maximal control of our lives. To bolster their pernicious point of view, they seek to take advantage of recent tragedies where mentally unbalanced individuals massacred multiple tens of innocents. They fail to hear or remember the cries of millions, many of whom were children, such as the well-known Anne Frank, who died or are dying at the hands of despotic and evil governments. Similar tragedies have occurred throughout history, from ancient Rome to China to North Korea, where governments in control of every practical means of armed resistance have brutalized an unarmed people.

Yes, we do need to do something about criminals and crazies who massacre people with guns. The operative words here are “criminals” and “crazies.” We must not deprive normal law-abiding citizens of their rights under the Second Amendment in order to keep a demented few from obtaining a gun. While nothing will stop all malefactors, we can make significant inroads by putting trained armed personnel in schools, by carefully implemented background checks (that do not include retention of information on law-abiding citizens) and by examining the contribution of media and video games to such violence.

Focusing on these things makes common sense. Infringing upon our Second Amendment rights does not.